Student Achievement Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC The Principal’s Impact on Student Achievement

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Leading and teaching is challenging work.

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC What do good principals do?

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Design a Principal

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Caring Commitment Fairness Focus Professional Etc. Personal Qualities

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC ThePrincipal Instructional Leadership School Climate Human Resources Management Organizational Management Professionalism Communication & Community Relations What do Good Principals Do?

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC The Principal’s Impact on Student Achievement Two Facts and a Fib

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Instructional Leadership 1.Principals of high-achieving schools have a clear vision and communicate to all stakeholders that learning is the school’s most important mission. 2.A transformational leadership style yields greater student achievement effects than an instructional leadership style. 3.Effective principals understand that they cannot reach instructional goals alone, so they distribute leadership across their schools, which in turn contributes to sustainable improvements within the school organization.

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Instructional Leadership 1.Principals of high-achieving schools have a clear vision and communicate to all stakeholders that learning is the school’s most important mission (Cotton, 2003; Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005; Zmuda, Kuklis, & Kline, 2004). 2.FALSE! A transformational leadership style yields greater student achievement effects than an instructional leadership style. There is growing evidence that basic “instructional” leadership activities have a greater impact on student learning than a focus on transformational leadership (Hattie, 2009). 3.Effective principals understand that they cannot reach instructional goals alone, so they distribute leadership across their schools, which in turn contributes to sustainable improvements within the school organization (Blasé & Blasé, 1999; Hargreaves & Fink, 2003).

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC School Climate 1.There is a positive relationship between school climate and leadership, which affects overall school effectiveness. 2.Attempting to change the prevailing culture of a school is one of the more time-consuming, yet easiest tasks of the school leader. 3.Relationship-building and stakeholder involvement are of fundamental importance in establishing and sustaining school success.

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC School Climate 1.There is a positive relationship between school climate and leadership, which affects overall school effectiveness (Barth, 2002; Hallinger, Bickman, & Davis, 1996; Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005; Villani, 1997). 2.FALSE! Attempting to change the prevailing culture of a school is one of the more time-consuming, yet easiest tasks of the school leader. Attempting to change the prevailing culture of a school is one of the more difficult tasks of the school leader (Barth, 2002; Fullan, 2001). 3.Relationship-building and stakeholder involvement are of fundamental importance in establishing and sustaining school success (Cotton, 2003; Fullan, 2001; Kytheotis & Pashiartis, 1998; Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005).

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Human Resources Management 1.The principals of effective schools work with ineffective teachers over an extended period of time to improve their performance. 2.Effective administrators provide the time, resources, and structure for meaningful professional development and recognize the teacher leadership within the building. 3.Principals who are risk takers and who help in problem solving are more likely to empower and retain teachers.

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Human Resources Management 1.FALSE! The principals of effective schools work with ineffective teachers over an extended period of time to improve their performance. Principals of effective schools expect ineffective teachers to change, or they are removed (Mendro, 1998). 2.Effective administrators provide the time, resources, and structure for meaningful professional development and recognize the teacher leadership within the building (Blasé & Blasé, 2001; Cotton, 2003; Drago-Severson, 2004; Fullan, Bertani, & Quinn, 2004). 3.Principals who are risk takers and who help in problem solving are more likely to empower and retain teachers (Blasé & Blasé, 2001; Charlotte Advocates for Education, 2004).

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Organizational Management 1.Maintaining a safe and orderly environment can affect teaching and learning positively and is therefore a fundamental responsibility of school administrators. 2.Principals of effective schools respect teachers’ skills and judgment, but limit their autonomy in organizing and managing their classrooms. 3.The principal’s skill in organizational management (e.g., hiring, providing PD, managing budgets) has a greater impact on school effectiveness than observing in classrooms.

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Organizational Management 1.Maintaining a safe and orderly environment can affect teaching and learning positively and is therefore a fundamental responsibility of school administrators (Cotton, 2003; Lashway, 2001; Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005; Shellard, 2003). 2.FALSE! Principals of effective schools respect teachers’ skills and judgment, but limit their autonomy in organizing and managing their classrooms. Effective principals allow their teachers considerable autonomy in managing and organizing their classrooms (Cotton, 2003). 3.The principal’s skill in organizational management (e.g., hiring, providing PD, managing budgets) has a greater impact on school effectiveness than observing in classrooms (Horng, Klasik, & Loeb, 2009).

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Communication & Community Relations 1.Successful school leaders must be able to work effectively with parent, community, business, and government representatives. 2.Relationship-building and stakeholder involvement are of fundamental importance in establishing and sustaining school success. 3.While important, principals seldom lose their jobs for negative interpersonal relationships.

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Communication & Community Relations 1.Successful school leaders must be able to work effectively with parent, community, business, and government representatives (Leithwood & Riehl, 2003). 2.Relationship-building and stakeholder involvement are of fundamental importance in establishing and sustaining school success (Cotton, 2003; Fullan, 2001; Kytheotis & Pashiartis, 1998; Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005). 3.FALSE! While important, principals seldom lose their jobs for negative interpersonal relationships. The number one reason that principals lose their jobs is for negative interpersonal relationships (Davis, 1998).

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Professionalism 1.Effective principals communicate and model core values through their interactions with students and teachers; most importantly, they model that they care for and have a genuine concern for children. 2.Effective principals balance responsibilities associated with educating students with the needs of teachers. 3.Effective principals should receive professional development that focuses mainly on their roles and responsibilities.

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Professionalism 1.Effective principals communicate and model core values through their interactions with students and teachers; most importantly, they model that they care for and have a genuine concern for children (Cotton, 2003). 2.Effective principals balance responsibilities associated with educating students with the needs of teachers (Gross & Shapiro, 2000; Tschannen-Moran, 2004) 3.FALSE! Effective principals should receive professional development that focuses mainly on their roles and responsibilities. Just as important is professional development with a focus on the nuances of context that affect their decisions. The when and why are just as critical as the what and how (Waters & Grubb, 2004).

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Overall Impact of Principals 1.The quickest way to change the effectiveness of a school, for better or worse, is to change the principal. 2.The principal variable accounts for between 2% and 8% of the variance in student test scores. 3.Principals in high performing schools place higher pressure on their teachers to perform well on standardized tests.

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Overall Impact of Principals 1.The quickest way to change the effectiveness of a school, for better or worse, is to change the principal. 2.The principal variable accounts for between 2% and 8% of the variance in student test scores. 3.False! Principals in high performing schools place higher pressure on their teachers to perform well on standardized tests. “Principals in lower performing schools are more likely to modify their leadership focus to place a greater emphasis on improving test scores. Principals in higher performing schools seemed to focus on educating the whole child rather than simply concentrating on raising test scores” (Reed et al., 2001).

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Quiz “Grading”: How’d You Do? # of Correct Answers Classification 8+You can’t count 6 – 7Major genius 4 – 5Regular sort of genius 2 – 3Not too shabby 1Thanks for playing; please try again 0Good news! Zero is as low as you can go!

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Instructional Leadership Building a Vision Sharing Leadership Leading Learning Community Using Data Monitoring Curriculum & Instruction

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC School Climate Positive Climate High Expectations Practice of Respect

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Human Resources Management Selecting Quality Teachers & Others Inducting & Supporting Staff Providing Growth Opportunities Retaining Quality Staff Evaluating Teachers

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Effective principals know the hiring system and use the information to gain access to the best possible candidates. Hallinger & Heck, 1996 Hiring

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Fragmented HR Functions Hire Hire Evaluate Evaluate Develop Develop

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Aligned HR Functions HireDevelopEvaluateDevelop

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Teacher Evaluation

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC New Teacher Project, Widget Effect, 2009 Grade Inflation Superior 25,332 Excellent 9,176 Satisfactory 2,232 Unsatisfactory 149 Chicago: through

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Organizational Management Safety Daily Operations Facilities Maintenance Securing & Using Resources

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Communication & Community Relations Effective Communicator Communicate with Families Communicate with Larger Community

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Professionalism Ethical Standards Role Model Professional Development for the Principal

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC What is the impact of principals on student achievement?

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Influences on Student Achievement: Explained Variance Hattie, (2003)

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC “ …the principal pipeline seems to leak” Viadero, 2009, Oct 28, EdWeek, p. 14

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Average Tenure of Principals Elementary School = 4.96 years Middle School = 4.48 years High School = 3.38 years Study of Texas 16,500+ principals, Fuller & Young, 2009, UCEA

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Principal Turnover North Carolina:48% Illinois:38% After 6 years – percentage still working as principals: Gates, RAND Corp., 2004

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC The harder I work the luckier I am. Gary Player

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC … but it is hard work.

Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC Questions?